


A Different Color

by MikazukiMunechika305



Category: Keyakizaka46 (Band)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Modern Setting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-03-26
Packaged: 2019-12-18 06:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18243848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikazukiMunechika305/pseuds/MikazukiMunechika305
Summary: They both were a different color than all the others, and it was easier to be a different color together.Shiori had always wanted to escape from the pressure her parents were putting on her. Luckily, on that day, she found someone who was willing to accept her for who she was.•~•~•~•Fuyuka wasn’t sure why she started talking to the stranger on that day, but she knew she couldn’t just let someone stand in the heavy rain like that. And in retrospect, it was one of the best decisions she’d ever made.[based on the Kuroi Hitsuji MV]





	A Different Color

_“You’re so pretty, Shiori, this dress really suits you.”_

_“I wish you’d wear clothes like this more often. Like this, you look so much better than in those jeans you always wear.”_

_“See, auntie got you a new make-up kit, aren’t these eyeshadow colors pretty?”_

It was Sato Shiori’s 19th birthday, and she felt like this was one of the worst days in her life. Recently, there had been many bad days, but birthdays—or celebrations of this kind in general—were always worse. On days like this, Shiori had to put on cute dresses and pretend she loved wearing them. Most of her relatives didn’t know that she hated the girlish behavior they expected of her; Shiori’s parents had kept that fact a secret until now, always shrugging it off as an annoying phase that Shiori would grow out of soon.

Except, she hadn’t grown out of it. Not in the past ten years, at least. And as far as Shiori remembered, she had always preferred a pair of boyish shoes over the girlishly cute skirts with hearts on them that her parents had bought for her instead. When she was in kindergarten, she had told her parents she wanted a toy car for Christmas. Instead, they had bought her a doll and told her the toy car had been sold out. Shiori had cried loudly, full of anger and sadness about her parents ignoring her wish, when they walked past a toy store on the next day and she could see multiple boxes with  the same toy she had wanted displayed right behind the window. The shop was closed on that day, so even as a little child she had realized that it hadn’t been restocked over night; it had probably been available all along, her parents (or Santa, as she still believed at that time) had just not bought it.

From then on, the same thing happened every year. Shiori would tell her parents what she’d like for Santa to get her, and during the first two or three times, they told her Santa had wanted to fulfil Shiori’s wish, but he hadn’t been able to. Then, they changed their approach.

 _“You see, Shiori, Santa hasn’t been happy with you lately. He probably thinks you haven’t been a good girl because you keep ignoring the other girls at school, he thinks_ _you’re behaving too much like a boy.”_ They told her that when she was in elementary school. And Shiori had listened; for a while, she had ignored the boys she got along with, and instead tried to fit in with the other girls’ talk about dolls and cute pink clothes. But that hadn’t worked out either; she soon realized that she didn’t know enough about those girly things to fit in with the girls, and the boys refused to play with her because she had ignored them first.

Her first year at middle school had been an awkward phase of trying to get along with both the girls and the boys in her class, which at first seemed to work out quite well; but after a while, the other girls started teasing her. _“You’re always with the boys, aren’t you? Do you like one of them?”_ Confused, Shiori had said yes—“Yes, all of them.” The other girls had laughed at her, and two days later, there were photos of the boys in their grade plastered all over Shiori’s locker, along with pink hearts. Two weeks later, Shiori’s parents had their older daughter transfer to a different school.

That was the time when they started saying things like, _“Why can’t you be more like your sister? She’s such a good girl, and you’re just… not.”_ Sato Aya was two years younger than Shiori, she already looked like she could be a model, and she was an angel—at least, that was what Shiori’s parents thought.

She was the perfect girl they had always wanted Shiori to be, and right now, she was standing in front of her sister, waving her hand that wasn’t holding the eyeshadow palette around with a slightly confused expression. “Onee-chan, are you alright?”

Surprised, Shiori blinked once, twice, then she nodded quickly. The memories from back then had washed down over her like a flood once again, but for the sake of her family, she had to be fine now. “O-of course. You’re absolutely right, Aya, that’s the prettiest eyeshadow I’ve ever seen.”

Aya nodded contently, now smiling widely. She was so friendly, and even though she was her own sister, Shiori sometimes wondered how much of that gentle behavior was real. “Right? I totally agree,” Aya said, the tiniest hint of jealousy audible in her voice.

The other people in the room probably couldn’t hear that, but Shiori did. _If you want, you can have it, I don’t really care._ She felt so tempted to say that, but if she did, that would ruin the entire day for everyone. But Shiori needed a break; lying to so many people for hours was still as exhausting for her as it had been the first time she did it years ago. “I… I think I’ll go outside for a bit.” Her family members fell silent, and Shiori noticed her parents exchanging a worried glance. _They’re more worried about me ruining their party than about my wellbeing._

“Are you okay, Shii?” her eight-year-old cousin asked, and his father, her uncle, got up from his chair. “I’ll accompany you,” he offered, but Shiori quickly shook her head.

“I’m fine, Yuu-kun,” she smiled at her cousin and ruffled his hair. “No, uncle. Thank you, but I’d like to be alone for a bit, if that’s okay.”

It was obviously not okay, not for her parents, at least. Their faked, slightly worried smiles weren’t enough to hide their annoyance and disappointment, at least not in Shiori’s eyes. But she didn’t care anymore, she wanted to get out of this room.

So she gave her family members an apologetic smile and headed into the hallway. She only grabbed her phone and  a thin jacket that she put on while slipping into her shoes in the genkan, and then she quickly stepped out of the house, a sigh of relief leaving her lips when the door fell closed behind her.

Only then did Shiori realize that it was raining. _You’re going to get sick if you stay out here in this kind of weather_ , a small voice at the back of her mind told her, but Shiori didn’t care. The cold, heavy rain felt like it was washing away the pressure she’d felt until just now. It was a relief more than anything else.

Shiori started walking down the street slowly, subconsciously headed for the vending machine that was positioned at the nearby crossroads. For a few moments, she just stared at it, then she slowly lifted her hand and pressed the button for the drink she had decided on—only to realize that she had forgotten to bring any money. She was just about to turn away and leave when suddenly, the rain around her stopped.

“Uh, if you’re taking so long to decide, do you mind if I get something first?” a female voice asked. Shiori made a _go ahead_ gesture and took another step away from the vending machine, but the other person grabbed her wrist and stopped her. “No, wait. You’re soaked already, you’ll just get even sicker if you don’t get yourself dried and warmed up now.” The person simply looked at Shiori for a moment before continuing, “You should go home and take a hot shower—”

“No. Let go of me now, please.”

But the girl didn’t. The grip on Shiori’s wrist tightened a bit; at least it still wasn’t uncomfortably tight.

“Just let me…!”

A gentle smile spread on the other girl’s lips. “I’m not going to let someone catch pneumonia or something like that out here.” She kept her hand on Shiori’s wrist while trying to press the buttons on the vending machine with her other hand that was holding the umbrella.

Seeing where this was going, Shiori yanked her hand free, clicking her tongue in annoyance. “Okay, fine, I won’t leave, so you can let go of me.”

The girl did so; with her now-free hand, she pressed a button and took out her wallet, then stopped moving for a few seconds. “Do you want something, too?”

“Eh?”

“Well, you were standing here first. What do you want to drink?”

Shiori shook her head. “It’s fine, I don’t have the money to pay you back anyways.”

“Oh…” The girl thought about that for a moment, then she smiled. “It’s just a few yen, so it’s okay. You don’t need to pay me back.”

After hesitating for a moment longer, Shiori pressed a button on the machine and lowered her head slightly. “...thank you.”

“No problem,”  the girl smiled as she paid, and her smile seemed genuine. “I’m Saito Fuyuka, by the way.”

“...Sato Shiori.” Shiori took the bottle of juice Fuyuka was offering her. “I’m… sorry for being a bother.”

“You’re not being a bother at all. But, what are you even doing out here when it’s raining this much?”

Shiori considered telling her for a moment. She usually kept things like this to herself, but she figured it would feel good to pour out all her feelings once—she’d never have to meet a Fuyuka again anyways (or at least that was what she thought), so it wouldn’t even matter if she embarrassed herself. But on the other hand, the person in front of her was a complete stranger and Shiori’s feelings were nothing she just wanted anyone to know about. “I’d rather not talk about that,” was the response she settled with as she opened her bottle and took a sip from it. Then, a shiver ran down her back; she was starting to feel cold in her drenched dress, now that she was slowly calming down.

Fuyuka seemed to notice that, and a worried expression hushed across her face. “You said you’re not going back home… at least come to my apartment for a bit, won’t you? You can take a hot shower and get out of those wet clothes there,” she offered.

For seconds, Shiori remained silent, thinking. Fuyuka was nice. All of this could just be an act, maybe she was just trying to kidnap an innocent girl in the late afternoon. But Shiori’s other option was going back home and putting on the pink eyeshadow her aunt had given her because she was sure everyone else would request to see her wear it already.

And Shiori hated pink eyeshadow.

“Fine, I’m coming with you,” she declared. “But if you do anything funny to me, I’ll call the police.”

Fuyuka raised an eyebrow, then she chuckled. “Okay. I’ll leave my hands off you, then.” She led the way to a nearby apartment and unlocked the door, motioning for Shiori to go inside.

Shiori stopped in front of the doormat and wrung our her hair before she stepped into the apartment.

“Fuyuka, you’re back—ah, who is this? A friend of yours? Oh dear, you’re completely drenched!” A woman hurried towards them, a worried expression on her face. “What on earth happened?”

Fuyuka handed the woman the drinks she had bought. “Here, mum. I don’t know, she wouldn’t tell me. But she doesn’t want to go home either, so I said she should take a hot shower here.”

Fuyuka’s mother nodded seriously. “Do that, do that. I’ll heat up some food too.”

“No, you don’t have to…” Shiori felt a little overwhelmed, embarrassed even, upon being the subject of this genuine concern and apparently unconditional love from Fuyuka and her mother. It was something completely unlike her own family.

But Fuyuka’s mother was already hurrying to the kitchen, and Fuyuka guided Shiori to the bathroom. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll bring you some dry clothes and leave them in front of the door.”

Letting out a long breath, Shiori closed her eyes and gave in. “...alright. Thank you.” Even though she really didn’t want to burden this family even more, she ended up taking a proper bath. It was a relief to get out of her wet dress, and as she submerged herself in the hot water, she finally started feeling more comfortable. A while later, she left the tub and indeed found some dry clothes in front of the bathroom door that she put on before she stepped back into the hallway. “Saito-san…?”

Fuyuka’s mother peeked our of one of the rooms. “Over here, Sato-chan,” she called Shiori over. “I hope you like nabe?”

Shiori nodded thankfully as she sat down, glancing over at Fuyuka and her mother who were sitting at the other side of the table. “Thank you very much. For the clothes, too.”

Fuyuka shook her head, smiling. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Maybe you can give them back when we meet again?” She seemed absolutely convinced that that would happen.

Shiori was about to say something, but Fuyuka’s phone suddenly started ringing. Lowering her head apologetically, Fuyuka picked up the call. “Takahashi-kun? Oh, that’s very nice of you, but I have something else to take care of. ...a friend needs my help, I’m really busy, Takahashi-kun. ...yes. ...no, really, let’s just meet up tomorrow. Alright. Bye, I love you too.” She hung up with a deep sigh. Shiori was slightly curious, but she wasn’t going to ask any inappropriate questions.

However, Fuyuka’s mother seemed to notice her curiosity because she whispered “That was her boyfriend” towards Shiori.

Shiori nodded slightly and started eating, not wanting to give the impression that she was interested in things that were none of her business. She wasn’t very surprised to hear that Fuyuka had a boyfriend; considering how nice the girl was, Shiori assumed anyone would be happy to have her take care of them. _…other than me._ Shiori instinctively grimaced when that thought crossed her mind—remembering how recently, her parents had told her to sell all her jeans, buy a few more dresses and then find herself a boyfriend (preferably a rich, good-looking man).

“Are you alright, Sato-chan?” Fuyuka’s mother spoke up, making Shiori wince in slight surprise. “Is anything wrong with the food?”

“Ah, no, it’s fine,” Shiori hurried to say. “The food is delicious. I just remembered something… something I don’t like thinking of. It has nothing to do with the food.”

Fuyuka put her phone away with a slight frown on her face, but as she looked back at Shiori, she put a smile on once again. “Then… is there anything else we can do for you, Shiori—is it okay if I call you Shiori?”

For a moment, Shiori hesitated, thinking to herself that it might not be clever to get too close to someone she might not even see again—but Fuyuka was so nice to her that Shiori almost wanted to be friends with her. Almost. “It’s fine… uh, Fuyuka…?”

“My friends call me Fuu-chan,” Fuyuka said, and Shiori couldn’t bring herself to mention that they weren’t even friends yet.

For a while, the three of them ate in silence. When she was done, Shiori decided to check her phone once since she had muted her calls and notifications— _4 missed calls._ All of them came from her home’s landline. And apparently, simply that fact made Shiori’s annoyance reflect clearly on her face because Fuyuka touched her shoulder gently. “Are you okay?”

“Eh? Ah, I’m fine. I just thought maybe I should go home now… my family must be worrying about me.” After how unconditionally nice Fuyuka had been, Shiori felt a little bad about lying to her—even though this wasn’t even a complete lie—but they weren’t close enough for Fuyuka to know about all her problems yet. “Thank you very much for letting me come here, and for the clothes. I’ll return them as soon as possible.”

Fuyuka got up along with her and accompanied her back to the apartment’s door. “You should take an umbrella along too, I think it’s still raining. You can give it back together with my clothes.”

At this point, Shiori had decided to give up on resisting; and besides, she didn’t want to get Fuyuka’s clothes all dirty and wet with rain. “Thank you,” she muttered as she picked up her dress, put her shoes back on, and then accepted the umbrella. “If I can repay you somehow…”

Smiling, Fuyuka shook her head. “Don’t worry about that. Let’s just meet again sometime, okay?”

For the first time since they had met, Shiori smiled genuinely. “Okay. See you then.” With that, she left, opening the umbrella as soon as she’d stepped out of the building. On her way home, Shiori made sure to walk a little slower than necessary, still not wanting to see her parents again so soon. However, she soon stood in front of the door to her house, and when she realized that she’d forgotten to bring a key, a sigh left her lips as she lifted her hand to ring the doorbell.

It only took seconds for the door to open. “Shiori!” her mother exclaimed, sounding slightly more annoyed than worried. “Where on earth were you? You were gone for so long—”

“I’m sorry I made you worry.” Shiori couldn’t hide a tiny hint of sarcasm in her voice as she squeezed past her mother into the hallway. “I just needed some fresh air, and I’m back now, so…”

“And what’s with those clothes?! What happened to your dress—it’s completely soaked!” her mother continued, sounding furious. “It was so expensive, the fabric is so delicate!”

Shiori squeezed her lips shut tightly, taking a deep breath as her hands clenched to fists around the fabric of the sweatpants Fuyuka had given her. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“So?” Her mother roughly grabbed the dress from Shiori’s hands. “Where did you get those clothes from?”

“…a friend.”

“A friend? Who is she?”

For a moment, Shiori remained silent, chewing on her lip. She didn’t want to expose Fuyuka, silently fearing that her parents would try to keep the two of them apart. “…Tanaka Rina-chan. She lives nearby.”

“Well, you’ll be giving her clothes back tomorrow, and from then on you won’t meet her again. Your uncle mentioned that a friend of his has a son who’s looking for a girl to marry. Go to your room now.” With that strict tone, Shiori’s mother turned away and headed towards the kitchen.


End file.
